Sumner Redstone Says That All Newspapers Will Be Gone In Two Years

from the how's-that-crystal-ball dept

Sumner Redstone, who controls both Viacom and CBS, apparently thinks that all newspapers will be gone in two years. We’ll be sure to check back on this prediction at the end of April in 2012. That said, he’s most likely correct in his criticism of Rupert Murdoch that he made a big mistake investing in print newspapers, but the claim that there “won’t be any newspapers in two years,” seems unlikely. Of course, it’s also worth noting that Redstone predicted that he will live forever, so perhaps we can chalk all this up to octogenarian hyperbole. But, if I were a betting man and were to bet on who’d live longer: print newspapers or Sumner Redstone… I think I’d side with the newspapers.

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Comments on “Sumner Redstone Says That All Newspapers Will Be Gone In Two Years”

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22 Comments
Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re:2 Re:

I think 2012 is when some of the planets in our solar system line up or something, but it should only apply to life within our solar system. I suppose the answer depends on the extent that the aliens reside within our solar system or, if they reside elsewhere, whether or not the planets line up wherever they reside.

John Fenderson (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:

2012 is the end of the third ago of the Mayan calendar, and there is no fourth age. That’s how it got to be associated with the end of the world. But there’s such a large difference between the “end of the calendar” and the “end of time” that it’s sad that we got it confused.

Even the Mayans didn’t think it was the end of the world. They thought it was the end of the old age, start of the new. Kinda like that whole “ago of Aquarius” thing.

Hephaestus (profile) says:

” but the claim that there “won’t be any newspapers in two years,” seems unlikely. “

His time line of 2 years is a little off but the trend show that in less than a decade they will all be gone. Merging and consolidating wont save them. Peoples consumption and news habits are changing back to how we were before the printing press. Stuff that interests them, and stuff their friends tell them about is moving to the fore front. People dont realize they are making this change.

As they say you cant fight human nature.

Ronald J Riley (profile) says:

Numbers will be greatly thinned out.

I predict that most dailies will either die outright or become weekly publications while switching to mostly local daily coverage via the web. Furthermore, I suspect that just a few newspapers will continue as dailies specializing in regional or national coverage.

While the industry was imploding many print publications raised classified ad rates, driving clients to online sites. I think it is unlikely that they will ever recapture that business.

Ronald J. Riley,

Speaking only on my own behalf.
President – http://www.PIAUSA.org – RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director – http://www.InventorEd.org – RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow – http://www.PatentPolicy.org
President – Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 – (202) 318-1595 – 9 am to 8 pm EST.

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